TESL 19

Chapter 19

“Why?”

“When Lady Wildenbiston spent twelve years trailing after His Majesty like some fifth wheel, you ignored her completely. So why now are you trying to ruin that poor girl’s future? Even if it wasn’t printed in the Pacific Times, the gossip has already spread thickly among the capital’s noble houses. Poor Lady Wildenbiston’s reputation has fallen so far it’s about to burrow into bedrock! Why did you do it? No, if you were going to do this, you should have done it sooner…”

“At that time, I was the crown prince. Now, I am the emperor.”

“…Excuse me?”

At that moment, Vice’s expression fell completely.

Rubellus stared directly at him. The playful look had vanished, replaced by serious intent.

Vice instinctively realized: one wrong word here, and his head would be gone.

“Her reputation is not something I need to be responsible for.”

Vice blinked in shock. Wait—so that engagement remark wasn’t a joke?

Just then, a servant returned with clothes. Rubellus, noticing it was time to finish dressing, stood and slowly approached them.

The private audience was over.

“Are you serious?”

The question slipped out of Vice’s mouth before he could stop it. Rubellus stopped in his tracks. His head turned toward Vice.

Vice froze completely at the sight. Rubellus was wearing an expression he had never seen before.

“I am… of course, serious.”

Rubellus spoke directly to Vice.

Vice’s hair seemed to stand on end. Instinctively, he understood: if a face could kill, he would have been shredded by Rubellus many times over.

“…My apologies.”

“I will finish getting ready now. Proceed to the audience hall.”

“Yes, sir.”

He had nearly died.

Not an exaggeration. Vice swallowed dryly and hurriedly left the room, wanting to get out before Rubellus finished dressing.

“Huff!”

I shot upright, pushing off the empty air. I looked around frantically. I was on my bed.

Quickly, I surveyed the room. It wasn’t someone else’s house, right? Thankfully, it was the house where I was born and raised.

Relieved, I looked down at my outfit. Good! I was wearing my usual slate-colored everyday dress.

After confirming everything, I let out a huge sigh of relief and shouted:

“Thank heavens! Thank you, thank you! Blessed be! Be happy! Thank you, Lord! I love you! Long live! Long live!”

It was a dream.

It was just a dream!

I clasped my hands and thrashed about with joy.

Honestly, I never thought I’d reach a day where I’d be grateful for having a dream.

But for good reason—it had been a truly strange and nasty nightmare. I had finally resolved to attend a matchmaking meeting, and then Rubellus himself had barged in, breaking the shoulder of the Shoden heir. And what he said to me…

“My fiancée!”

I laughed and sprawled on the bed. Now that I realized everything I remembered had been a dream, the world felt so peaceful.

“Wow, that was absurd.”

Truly absurd!

I pushed off my blanket with my feet and stretched out on the bed.

Then I looked at the sunlight streaming into my room with a proud smile. Golden light poured in.

The sky is so blue today. I must toast my parents who let me see such a beautiful world…

“Miss! Oh my! Miss, you’re awake! Here, here!”

The room filled with a sharp voice. I changed my posture to lie on my side and looked toward the door.

It was Marta. Today, she looked paler than ever, screaming something like a shriek at the doorway. It was Marta!

“Hey, Marta!”

“No, Miss! Miss, you’re awake? Do you know where you are?! Do you know who I am?!”

Really, is it that surprising that I got up early?

Of course, Marta always woke me while I was half-asleep, but this was over the top.

But it was fine. Somehow, today I felt great, and I could be generous with anything.

“Of course. Hey, Marta. Good morning today too. The air is so fresh I got up early. Did I do well?”

Lying on my side, I raised two fingers to my eyebrows in a salute.

I also winked with my left eye. How’s my refreshing morning greeting?

But instead of looking disgusted, Marta paled even more and shouted:

“Call the doctor! The Miss has changed! Our Miss, oh dear, our Miss must have lost her mind! Miss! Oh, Miss!”

My eyebrows furrowed. Marta’s reaction was extreme, even abnormal.

Why should getting up early earn me being called crazy?

“Marta, what’s wrong? I’m fine, fully conscious.”

Feeling the odd tension, I got out of bed and walked to Marta. Seeing me move, she collapsed completely, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Oh, Miss. I understand everything!”

I squatted down in front of Marta, whose expression had become even more serious.

“No, Marta. What’s going on?”

Through her sobs, Marta suddenly grabbed my shoulders tightly.

“Miss, do you know what date it is today?”

Her voice carried a tragic weight. I hesitated, then answered:

“Today? The 19th. Isn’t it the long-awaited matchmaking day?”

“Oh no! Miss, you really have lost your mind! Today is the 20th! The 20th!”

Marta then began to wail again as if she had anticipated this.

The 20th? Did I get the date of the meeting wrong? But so what if I misremembered the date…

As I patted her shoulders, a fleeting memory made me freeze.

Could it be…

Could it…

“Wait.”

I grabbed my head. Could it be that everything I thought was a dream… was real?

“Marta, then it’s true that the emperor came to the matchmaking meeting?”

“That’s what they said! Oh, poor Miss, how wonderful!”

“Really true?”

Everything?

The emperor spreading the carpet and entering the restaurant in grand style, pressing down on Shoden’s heir’s shoulder, looking directly at me, smiling brightly, and saying clearly: “My fiancée”?

All of it?

“…This really happened?”

I felt all the blood drain from my body.

I quietly stood.

“Oh, Miss, stay here! The doctor will come!”

“It really happened.”

I took a deep breath and whispered again.

But that doesn’t make sense. Why did His Majesty come to me and do all that?

“Impossible. It can’t be.”

I pressed my lips firmly and clenched my fists. I had to see my family first to figure out what happened.

Leaving Marta crying behind, I stomped down the stairs.

“What on earth is going on?”

It was Bianca’s voice.

I stopped mid-step. Her voice came from the small parlor right under the stairs leading from my room to the first floor.

I peeked down. Bianca was sitting on the sofa, resting her head on her hand, sighing deeply. Her unmade face looked full of worry.

“We just arrived at the estate and already had to pack and come back to the capital. At first, I thought it was a joke. But the emperor barging into Aira’s matchmaking meeting? If it were a joke, it would be a really nasty one.”

“But it’s true. Thankfully, no news appeared in the papers or journals.”

Elphine, sitting across from her, sighed and put down a newspaper.

Bianca and Elphine didn’t like this parlor.

But they were here, probably waiting for me to get up.

I tried to signal them with my lips.

Bianca sighed heavily.

“I guess the royal household didn’t allow coverage. Vice must have blocked it well.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s already been discussed with us and the Shoden family. Father and the Shoden marquis probably agreed to act as if nothing happened.”

Coverage? I knew about Vice. He was a friend of Elphine, who often came to our house.

He had given me inaccurate info about Rubellus before, laughing about it.

Bianca nodded as she sighed at Elphine’s words.

“So it can be prevented. Good, good. Well, anyone wanting to make a living from the press in this country should at least be careful when handling the royal family.”

Then silence fell.